Complicit Book

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‘Like the best filmmakers, Li draws you to the edge of your seat and keeps you there... Harrowing, timely, and thoroughly book club worthy.’

The New York Times
UK ORDERS
US ORDERS

A Hollywood has-been, Sarah Lai had once sacrificed everything for a promising career in film, working for the celebrated producer Hugo North. Ten years later, when a journalist reaches out to discuss her former boss, Sarah can no longer keep silent. This is her last chance to tell her side of the story. But in the process, she must ask herself: just who was complicit?

COMPLICIT owes much to the stories that emerged in the #MeToo movement, but I also wanted to channel my own experiences working in the film industry as a young woman — and as a sexual violence survivor, who has done a lot of thinking and consulting on how we tell these kinds of stories in the media. While capturing my own passion for cinema, and the supposed excitement and glamour of Hollywood, COMPLICIT questions how much our individual ambitions affect our moral decisions, when our workplaces are already such an unequal playing field.

New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
Shortlisted – Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award for Best Second Novel  
Best Crime Novels of 2022 and Best Noir Fiction of 2022 – CrimeReads
Best Crime Novels of 2022 – The Irish Times
Best Books of 2022 – Glamour
Book of the Month – The Belfast Telegraph
Book of the Week – Stylist magazine

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UK Paperback Edition
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US Hardback Edition
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US Paperback Edition
German Complicit cover
German Edition

‘A spellbinding novel that transcends the immediacy of its #MeToo backdrop to deliver a broadside against the movie industry and the patriarchal system it embodies… A quietly blistering J’accuse’

The Irish Times

What Readers Have Said

‘Phenomenally good'
'It is rare to come across a book so complete and so incredibly rich'
'This book is pure and utter perfection'
'Fiction at its best and most powerful'
'A book that begs to be read'
'I LOVED the cinematic style of story telling'
'Oh. Boy. Absorbing, powerful and nuanced'
'This is hands down the best'
'Thrilling, honest, redemptive'
'A character-driven page-turner of a story'

MEDIA REVIEWS

‘An unflinching and addictive depiction of the film industry’ Publishers Weekly
‘Visceral and timely… Li’s novel is a way of acknowledging the women whose stories have been heard, and those who haven’t.
The Guardian
‘Li draws on her experience in the film industry to bring authenticity and raw honesty to her second novel, a timely page-turner.’
BookList
‘A must-read for anyone who’s ever wondered what really goes on behind Hollywood’s PR-approved glamour… A timely reminder that we should never lose sight of the #MeToo movement.'
Stylist
‘A remarkably talented young author…A masterful book’
Story in the Public Square, PBS
‘Both a #MeToo thriller and a complex literary achievement that sheds an important light on Hollywood’s darkest secrets and brings an essential and underrepresented perspective – that of an Asian-American film producer – to the fore.’
CrimeReads
'Cinematic tension; you read with dread and fascination. Every detail rings true... A fascinating study of power, set in a business that deals in seduction.'
The Seattle Times
‘This Hollywood-isn’t-what-it’s-cracked-up-to-be thriller underscores the importance of #MeToo.'
Cosmopolitan

'A sharply written and absorbing dive into a dark and glamorous world. As timely as it is entertaining, this spectacular novel hooked me from the first page. Winnie M Li is a remarkable talent.'

Cristina Alger, New York Times bestselling author of GIRLS LIKE US

AUTHOR ENDORSEMENTS

‘Bold, brilliant, dazzling and devastating. Winnie M Li writes with pure heart and effortless style, and in Complicit handles the sharpest of stories with such compassion and skill.’
Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK
‘One of the best novels about the dark side of Hollywood that I have read…It's about how your dreams are used against you, and how power seduces, and how quickly moral grayness fades to black.'
Jordan Harper, Edgar Award-winning author of EVERYBODY KNOWS
'Winnie's skill as a writer is to forge out of a familiar film story one that is beautifully unique. An emotionally complex story, it ripples with foreboding and tension. Utterly compulsive reading.'
Sarah Winman, Sunday Times bestselling author of STILL LIFE
'Ingeniously constructed, traversing searing aspects of race, class, gender, Complicit gallops to a surprise finish, toggling back and forth from present to past and back again without losing any of its propulsive momentum. A page-turning read that also makes you think.'
Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of THE EVENING HERO
'COMPLICIT is simply brilliant. Beautiful writing, a compelling story, an intriguing structure-I was captivated from the first paragraph to the last. Li pulls back the veil on the glamorous film industry to show its less-than-savory side, yes, but it's the empathetic lead Sarah Lai who makes the novel truly special. Her journey from eager film student to capable producer to wise and remorseful screenwriting teacher blowing the whistle on a former colleague will touch the hearts of anyone who's made choices that they later regret. Like the fallout from the #MeToo movement, this story will resonate for years to come.'
JT Ellison, New York Times bestselling author
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